Audi announces end of combustion A4, A6 & A8 models
Audi is giving its A4 and A6 models an end date as combustion engines. The same is said to apply to the A8. Even in plug-in hybrids Audi apparently no longer wants to invest heavily. These decisions are likely to be the cornerstones of the exit plan from the internal combustion engine drawn up under Audi CEO Markus Duesmann.
These steps are mentioned in a portrait of Duesmann, who has been at the helm of the VW subsidiary in Ingolstadt for three quarters of a year, in the German publication Manager Magazin. Specifically, it says that new versions of the A4 and A6 will be launched again from 2023 and electric variants will follow a little later, but that Audi does not even want to offer the mid-range models as internal combustion engines until the end of their life. Ergo, the end will be before 2030.
As for the A8, it is said that it will be refreshed again at the end of 2021. That is supposed to be the last measure. Audi also apparently no longer wants to rely on plug-in hybrids. Manager Magazin reports that Duesmann considers them to be discontinued models and indirectly quotes him as saying that politics will no longer promote the technology after the federal elections in autumn 2021 at the latest, and that customers will then lose interest. Almost a fortnight ago, the Audi boss had already told another German business paper Wirtschaftswoche that he was currently working on a concrete timetable for phasing out the internal combustion engine “in the next 10, maybe 15 years”.
Instead of internal combustion engines, pure electric cars are moving into focus in Ingolstadt. Duesmann has underlined this with the electric showcase project Artemis, which was set up shortly after he took office. According to a report published by Automobilwoche at the beginning of the year, the study for the first Audi model under Artemis is to be presented at the IAA this autumn. The start of series production is planned for the end of 2024. Duesmann recently said that the model will be neither a large sedan above the A8 nor a large SUV above the Q7: “It will be a new vehicle category that will be called neither A nor Q.” To date, Audi has entered the premium electric car market with its e-tron models.
With reporting by Cora Werwitzke, France.
manager-magazin.de (in German, paywall)
Great but where is all this mega amount of electricity coming from?
The charger situation would require massive expansion.
To generate all this mega electricity must surely not be carbon free.
I do not disagree with electric cars but the infrastructure must be in place and take away the worries of range.
EVs energy usage can be offset with home energy updates.
Having 2 EVs for the last 2 yrs, they were easily offset by updating my homes energy efficiency.. air sealing, better windows/doors, flash water heaters, updating home appliances to energy efficient models, LEDs, leak sealing the HVAC.
The real issue is buildings, because something as simple as the energy usage between a new efficient flash water heater verse a tanked water heater is worth thousands of miles of driving per year in a EV. Updating mine was worth about 8k miles of driving a year.
After updates, my home used less energy even with 2 EVs.
Norway seems to manage just fine? Mass amounts of electric cars and mass amounts of clean energy. they’ve also got the charging network all figured out too. If Norway can do it, why can’t we?
Well if other countries had a population of only 5 million I think it would work great! But that’s not reality. That’s why it won’t work in many other countries.
I have two Audi’s and they will be my last…sad times for a great auto maker.
Very sad 🙁
Well I have a A5 Coupe and just love putting gas in it.
Please please keep the s8 models in my opinion the most beautiful car on the road today
Looks like I’ll be leaving the Audi brand then.
While it’s nice to think that all things electric will be the new saviour to a green economy. When the first Audi starts selling at £73.000, it sort of narrows down the ability to play for everyone. Why not let everyone have a chance to play with electric cars, if they are Th at keen on going carbon neutral.
The Audi a4 is the most loved family car in the Audi stable but the new b9 is really not competition in looks and sales for the best selling 3series BMW and c class Mercedes Benz in south Africa. Especially the blunt A4 b914i with rental car image but the affordable option. I’m a Audi fan and owner. SA people is different and we are enthusiastic about our rides.
A5
Audi is a reputable brand and their cars are cool and refined. They will do great in the EV market. Even Rolls-Royce is jumping on that bandwagon within this decade.
Stuff like this is concerning to me. I do a lot of long distance driving and until they can get me 600 miles of range I have zero interest in a completely electric vehicle. I feel like that’s possible but not in the next 10-15 years so I believe some of these companies are jumping the gun on eliminating ICE or hybrid platforms.
In the next 1-2 years:
Tesla Roadster II
Tesla Cybertruck LR
Tesla semi LR.
That are 3 different models from just 1 brand.
Some top of the line Chinese brands offer even longer ranges.
Happy electric driving Rick. The future is now.
Will be nice to drive an A6 or A8 fully battery loaded. Question is for how far without a full charge?
Hi and Thank You for sharing this information about Audi auto up dates!
I have been a a VAG group car enthusiast for years now for VW passat and a long run of mk1 audi TT 225’s and now A4 cabrio’s. There has to be another option like using hydrogen in the combustion engines it can be used in petrol and diesel engines puts out no carbon just water. Why nto look into this technology. I know it works and is very efficient it’s more energy dense. A guy in the US devolved the technology in the 90’s that allowed you to fill up with water and he created a device that went in the spark plug hole and separated the hydrogen from oxygen and ignited hydrogen. He was about to make this technology available to all cars and he was killed and his technology was stolen. I think this is a viable option to electric cars. They don’t have the infrastructure or the rare earth elements to role out this. This is just to make cars less available to lower earning people. Part of “the great reset” where we will own nothing and be happy. I can say with fear in my heart I am not looking forward to what’s to come over the next 20 years.
Someone else doesn’t want us to use water as a source of combustion because it is too cheap. Someone else wants us to pay for electricity.
Someone else made sure to ban diesel engines because they were too economical.
It is all about money.
This summary is everything that is to come.
Around 2025 every fossil fuel burning model will have an alternative from the same brand or the competition that is: cheaper,
a better driving machine,
has lower costs to operate,
has a higher residual value,
will not be banned from (inner) city driving,
and is fully electric.
Who in his or her right mind is going to buy the fossil fuel dinosaur?
That is why all carmakers will stop making internal combustion versions before the end of the decade.
A reasonably sized market segment wants to tow a caravan of up to 3,000kg. At this time EVs can’t provide meaningful range towing these weights.
Appreciate possible solutions are aux batteries in caravan to restore EV range. But many caravans currently only have a payload of 300-500kg for drinking water, grey & black water, food, clothing, etc. Retrofitting sufficient batteries to restore 300km of range will use the entire payload or more.
So with limited opportunity to add batteries to extant units, new caravans designed from the ground up to incorporate batteries is one answer.
Though additional cost of the batteries & the very low utilisation factor will tip the economics back to a mid to large ICE SUV until a cost effective solution that delivers on both range & payload can be found.
Not happy with this at all, there are alternative fuels that can be used in a combustion engines like hydrogen that just puts out water from the exhaust. This tech should be looked into before closing the book on the combustion engines. It’s not the engine it’s the fuels why not try looking at alternatives?
Couldn’t imagine the price of any repair bills? They are high as they are now!!
I call it a sickness. My obsession with Audi. Started with an A4 and currently a S4. I questioned The decision to drop the manual transmission option for the US market. Now no combustible engines? I agree, someone mentioned infrastructure to support plug in cars. They do not reduce pollution.
Thank you for sharing this amazing information
Good to read the article! Here we provide, Get the best used car engines for sale in USA. We are offering the used car engines all over the USA. Thank you for sharing the great content, which is very essential for me to know more about the cars and the engines.
Thank you for sharingn this informarion
Thanks for sharing information in your blog
Thank you for providing such a great information about the car engines, Here we provide, Get the best used car engines for sale in USA. We are offering the used car engines all over the USA.